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Residential Tower / Meir Lobaton + Kristjan Donaldson
Meir Lobaton + Kristjan Donaldson recently shared their design for a 36 story residential tower in Mexico City, Mexico. The project addressed the balance between the desire of living in a single-family residence with the cost of the land.
More images and more about the project after the break.
The residential tower provides the family the luxury of living in an apartment building without sacrificing the comfort of a backyard. Gardens located on every level try to break with the dichotomy between land and building, and, more importantly, provide an area that is attractive and functional for the family members.
Each floor plan is organized around a single apartment type that is 400 square meters with a gardened extension of approximately 160 square meters. By rotating the apartments 90 degrees at successive levels, the gardens sit above the cantilevered bedrooms of the apartment below.
The shifting horizontal floor planes provide adequate space for full trees to grow. This shifting also balances the greenery, creating a blend of structure and nature, rather than allowing one element to dominate and the second to feel like an after-thought. The internal living areas are organized to take full advantage of the gardens which adds a feeling of openness to the residences.
Due to the volatile seismic condition that characterizes Mexico City, a system of deep shear walls and Vierendeel trusses stabilizes the structure while accommodating the rotating floor plans.
TORRE CUAJIMALPA:
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Program: Thirty-six storey residential tower
Area: 25,000 square meters aprox.
Designer/architect: MEIR LOBATON CORONA + KRISTJAN DONALDSON
Collaborators: Javier Sepulveda
Consultants: Garcia Jarque Ingenieros, SC., Buro Happold Consulting Engineers P.C.
date: July 2008 – March 2009
expected year of completion: December 2011
status of project: Design Development / Construction Documents
firm website: www.meirlobaton.com www.kristjandonaldson.com
renders: a-04 studio digital
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50 comments »
I wish I could like this project…
but when firms include large trees in their design,
like this one, it just proves that they are full of sh*t.
“The shifting horizontal floor planes provide adequate space for full trees to grow. This shifting also balances the greenery, creating a blend of structure and nature, rather than allowing one element to dominate and the second to feel like an after-thought”
This is some of the most post-rationalized B.S. I have seen in a long time.
It sounds great except the firm must have not understand how a tree grows, and that they have something called roots and those roots usually grow to an equal proportion to the canopy. Judging by the rendering and sections there is barely enough room to grow grass let alone a “full tree”. Unless they plan on using astro-turf and fake trees… which could be awesome
kinda
I have a question, when it says “there will be enough room for the trees to grow”, is that actually accommodated by the soil depth. Because, from the section the soil basin does not seem to be very deep, unless these trees can grow tall without having deep roots. Just kind of curious. But a very ideal and some what real solution to meeting market demands architecturally (but i think Le Corbuiser tapped this idea a while back). By the way, where are the people?
@ cb ..
wow, we were thinking about the same thing as the same time….
cb,
You said what I wanted to say but could not articulate. Thanks!
soap…
I hope we’re not the only two who noticed….
It’s sad that a firm at this level is over looking
something so fundamental to their design.
really nice.
reminds me herzog & de meuron ´s leonard tribeca. but with no trees
i agree with Soap.
The soil basins don’t look more than 2 feet deep, if that, and probably should be much deeper.
i wonder if these infiltration of landscape urbanism is even necessary. Sure, trees are nice… but do we really need them growing off buildings. It’s not like we have a shortage of trees in the world.
maybe the roots grow into the department below and become decoration. no really. bad mistake, hopefully someone could clarify what the deal is.
:) i think that’s the first thing that came to everyones mind when they first saw this … trees have roots!
herzog & de meuron tower nyc with no trees
How stupid is this idea? A very bad 1:1 copy of HdM’s Leonard Tribeca with plastic trees or what? How can anyone just ignore the fact that tress have roots? I completely don’t get it.
I thin this is not ignorancy…is far worse…is blattant manipulation.They know they can’t grow trees…in best of chances they’ll be able to cover it up grass…it goes to show how ecological mania has taken over so completely that it makes people lie…because they have too.
TO MODERATOR. WHY DID YOU CHANGE THE INTERFACE? IT WAS BETTER BEFORE. NOW IT LOOKS A BIT MESSY:(
@Balkan,
What do you find messy? Which browser do you use? Try resfreshing and clearing your cache.
@DAVID sorry now it is back to normal. but it looked like completely new interface design and it was messy since the titles were in the middle of the pictures and that looked much worse than this clear interface. Sorry again.
Keep doing this good job:)
We can find the same ideia on the project of Isay Weinfeld’s 360º from the best construction company (in project conception)in Brazil: Idea! Zavros (http://www.ideazarvos.com.br/)
Take a look at the hotsite of Isay’s project at http://www.edificio360.com.br/
I understand why everyone is going a bit nuts over the renderings; and there’s some deception in discussing the possibility for “full size trees”.
That said, the architects are not totally out of line. Roof-gardens for trees aren’t impossible. Small to medium size trees (not oaks, or towering pines mind you) can be grown in 1 to 1.5 m soil. It’s totally false that the root balls of trees correspond in spread to the canopy. Root systems don’t travel that deep. They may be as broad as the canopy, but they stay very near the surface; where the soil is. You can support all this weight with slightly more robust structure under the soil. With the help of a great engineer, it is well within the realm of possibility to plant small to medium size trees.
Although it’s not entirely clear in the section if they’ve accommodated properly for the trees they’re showing, I’d refrain from being so harsh on them on this point.
Tuf is right. Though the slabs look optimistic, you don’t that much depth to get a good tree height. I can’t imagine that a tree lined street in any city allows for a proportional depth to the trees height.
Completely obvious knock-off of Herzog & deMeuron’s 56 Leonard St. building, kinda laughable really… All the floorplates are the same height, no REAL variation, nothing interesting…
“the balance between the desire of living in a single-family residence with the cost of the land”
-and the cost of each residence(1 p/floor)?
… no balance at all.
@tuf pak. the roots do not get that deep, but it does not mean that the only necessary soil that one tree needs is the soil that is occupied by his roots. Its very common that you give a tree as much soil as the volume of his folliage because the space wich is not ocuppied by the roots provides minerals, humidity and draining along time. A tree that grows in a space smaller than his folliage, will have troubles to stay healthfull.
The model that architects propose its something similar to bonsais. But the quantity of soil that they show, its just enough for grass or low port herbs.
English is not my maternal language so I apollogies for grammar mistakes
I andesrstand those trees not literally. It is a render. Each owner would plant a diferent tree.
Very nice renders. I think willing suspension of disbelief is the answer here. Super realistic renders have a way of convincing architects, clients and investors that what they are seeing is possible because it looks so real…even if it is a lie. So maybe the answer is to just pretend they are photos and appreciate the design as such, its certainly more fun that way.
oh and also pretend you havent see the hertzog de meuron tower too. I know…Its not easy…but try
Trees are not the point.
…greets to HDM! And great not-working-tree-stuff!
Depths of slabs aside for planting those trees…I see more of a problem with the weight impact that will come from those trees. Would you really want to live under the weight of someone else’s tree?
nice renders but……
1st, should have used smaller trees
2nd, looks out of scale w/ other buildings
3rd, the smog is really bad there
Why are the units themselves so big. It looks like every floor is it’s own unit with 3 living rooms a maids quarters. That seems a bit extreme. Is this really something that people in Mexico would want or need? There seams to be plenty of space around for some more modest heights.
Also those trees will not grow on those roofs as drawn. Maybe if there were some large planters put on with a light weight growing medium but that cantilever just looks ridiculous.
the renderings make mexico city look like paradise. far from what i’ve seen of it in person; it seems that they have far worse concerns than developing a building like this. the first thing i thought of when i saw this building was its offsetting regularity in a horizontal format, which reminded me on Le Corbs Unité d’Habitation and how he used vertical offsets to eliminate hallway spaces but also to use an idea of prefab; each apt in the Unite could be inserted via crane into the skeletal structure. it seems this firm leaned in the same direction, but may have abandoned it. :(
@ Gatz…
the tree are kinda the point,
the building looks the way it does
to allow for trees.
“The shifting horizontal floor planes provide adequate space for full trees to grow. This shifting also balances the greenery, creating a blend of structure and nature, rather than allowing one element to dominate and the second to feel like an after-thought”
and
they just forgot about the roots,
but who needs roots anyway…
My question… if I get onto the elevator and choose a floor, any floor,… the elevator door will open and I am automatically next to the living room.. is this correct?! or am I seeing wrong?
@ dustin
well, after puting a hudge tree on the balconies, might be easy to lock an elevator´s door.
Not a bad looking GSAPP project.
agree, trees can’t grow without a proper land
Not only has root depth been overlooked, but think about what a complete BITCH it would be to mow those lawns…. unless you convinced everyone to use a manual push mower with no engine, you’d have to either store a mower + weed trimmer on each level or you’d be tracking grass clippings through people’s apartments. :]
Geez, what a bunch of whiners! I mean, how many of you actually know so much about trees to know how much depth/soil you need to grow one? First of all, not all trees need the same vertical space to grow their roots, many species allow their roots to grow horizontally, the majority of roots will grow close to the surface where the nutrients the tree needs are found, and OBVIOUSLY, if the root finds a physical restriction, such as a concrete slab, the root will expand horizontally!
So as long as the architects/contractors choose an appropriate species, there should not be any problem at all. Not only that, you can have an enormous array of different plants, bushes and small trees growing at the same time in that space.
@ Chris G: You obviously did not see much of Mexico City, or at least not Santa Fe, which is where this building would be located. Santa Fe, FYI looks exactly like it does in those renderings.
If I ever move there, I promise, will cut the bonsai.
This photo is from a building in the same city:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtercero/2958847872/
@ JuanLuisBurke
If you think you grow any kind of trees with the depth
of that slab, you are crazy…especially at the scale
the architects are proposing. bushes, ground cover yes.
Trees yeah right. I don’t even think they would withstand
the wind loads if they did grow.
the renderings are very convincing though.
C’mon folks.
These 90° rotating floor plans are way cooler than 56 leonard’s ‘falling out the sky” approach. Well, I do like the video…
http://cdx.dexigner.com/article/17786/56%20Leonard.mov
And yeah, trees can grow in rocks along a river, so they just need stability not depth.
@DUSTIN:
It’s called a “private elevator”, nothing new in resd. buildings.
@Most of the others:
Get over it people, renders are meant to sell the idea, they just photoshopped some random cool looking trees and that’s it.
At the end, those terraces would be just grass with bushes, maybe small palms, etc, maybe it won’t be glass railings all around, but concrete railings, that would give you atleast 90 cm or 1 m worth of depth to fill in with soil and plant a small tree.
This is one of the most common problems in architecture… concepts being realized without ever consulting a landscape architect! Having worked in both fields, I know that a tree as large as they are showing would need a min. 2m deep planter box, to have a chance for healthy growth, which is where the structural loading issues come in… I’ve done large(4m x 2m deep!) tree boxes on structure, but they require major support, pretty much their own column beneath.. good luck on a cantilever.
That said, I love the idea of including more private outdoor space for high rise resi, i wish i had a balcony that big! :)
at first impression, looks good, i liked it and totally agree with JLBurke
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